Susquehanna Exploration, Dressler Style

July 23, 2011.

Happy 6 Year Anniversary to Matt and Sarah!!  :)

I can't believe I have been married to a wonderful man (my soul mate) for  6 years!  We decided to be adventurous this year.  We threw around the idea of kayaking the Susquehanna, but really wanted to make it a bit more romantic- hey, what can I say, I love the man! So, we decided to canoe instead, so that we could ride in the same vessel.

Now, as for Matt's reasoning behind the canoe, I can imagine it went something like this: in his mind: "I don't want to hear her whine about how tired she is from paddling alone, so I better ride with her." to me: "Well, why don't we do a canoe instead so we can ride together, it is our anniversary and I do want to spend it with you."

Gosh, he is just loverly.  :D  Okay, so he really probably wasn't thinking that, I just like to tease him about what it would have been like had we kayaked instead (probably no different).

Anyhow, sweet Auntie Meggie watched Belle for the day while we went canoeing the river.  Big thanks Meg!  :)

There are two main Susquehanna River Outfitters: Susquehanna Outfitters, based on City Island.  There is another: Blue Mountain Outfitters that is further up the river in Marysville, but we wanted to see the city line from the river, so we chose Susquehanna Outfitters.  Both are comparably priced (between $44-60) depending on your vessel of choice.  For our trip we chose the half day excursion (3 hours) on a canoe, which was $44.  For those that are curious, a whole day is 6 hours with drop-off at Fort Hunter Park.

We caught the 12 o'clock drop off group, from City Island.  There is plenty of parking in front of the facility, which is off to the west side of the island.  It doesn't take long to check in and get situated, so I would suggest getting there about 15 minutes before departure.  However, if you are running a tad late, I wouldn't stress too much.  The folks running the excursion are awesome, knowledgeable, laid back and really nice. 

We had a young girl do our safety talk, which basically gave us river levels, how to paddle, what to do if you fall out/capsize (stand up- yep, the river is that low right now).  I requested a map, so we could see the different islands as we canoe down stream and she gave me a nice waterproof version.  Cool.

Next we were required to get our paddles, life vests and board a mini bus straight out of a 60s time warp.  No joke.  Matt and I were seated near the front- who am I kidding- we were all near the front on a mini bus with 5 rows of seats... I digress.

Susquehanna Outfitters Big Neon Green Mini Bus

While riding the quick 10 minute commute to our drop off point, we were busy pointing out all of the different stickers from various rivers across the country (the group travels to kayak!).  So, guess where they had a sticker from?  The Ocoee River!  Yes, the famed 5 mile stretch, class IV rapids on the first go, bust up your heel, bleeding everywhere, tour guide falling out (a taboo) kind of white water rafting river.  Read more about it HERE.  For those unfamiliar with the Ocoee it is a great whitewater rafting river located in the even greater state of Tennessee. :)  Small world, huh?  Cool, again.

We quickly arrived at our put-in location: West Fairview.  Even cooler.  Matt's grandfather on his mother's side owned the Inn in West Fairview.  The put in is located down next to the river, directly off the same street (Market Street) that the Inn is located on.  Very cool.  Dottie would have loved it.  It was a nice surprise to us as we were riding along, talking about all of the different places the SO had traveled to kayak and, BOOM, there is The Inn.  We knew it was going to be a good day.  The put-in is about 3 miles upstream from City Island.  It is at the mouth of the Conodoguinet Creek (Cono-gwin-et), located on the corner of South Street and Front Street in West Fairview.

1 man and tandem kayaks, plus our loverly canoe!

We all unloaded our gear, lotioned ourselves up (no burning here!), and got the quick "easy way to paddle" run down from our guide.  They loaded a few kayak folks, then the lone canoers (the coolest) were ready to shove off!!

First we headed up the Conodoguinet Creek, under 11/15 and a ways farther.  It was a nice tester to paddling upstream.  Not hard, I would definitely say a novice could accomplish this without incident.  The only trouble for us was that for the past 3-4 days it had been 100+ temperatures and the creek bed was really low, thus we could only go so far until we were stuck.  No biggie.  We turned around, drifted back down stream to the Susquehanna and paddled right out to the middle of the river.

While paddling out to the middle of the river, we saw a man fishing, and as we were exploring around, I looked back (to try and avoid where he was- you don't, under any circumstances, disturb a fisherman's fishing waters), he was at least 100 yards further out into the river!  This is what caused me to look down and really pay attention to the river- it was only probably 2 1/2- 3 1/2 feet all around us.  I easily could have gotten out of the canoe and stood in the river.  Cool, again.  I like to see the bottom.

Hello little freshwater clammy!

We paddled around, saw a bunch of birds and fish, and meandered through the islands along the river.  At one point, when we went up a cove between two islands, we saw the largest Great Blue Heron either of us had encountered.  It was very large, and surprisingly, it sat still until we got incredibly close.  I wouldn't have even needed my zoom lens (had I actually had it with me).  After inspecting this awesome big bird, I looked down and saw a clam.  A real, freshwater clam that was alive and functioning.  Usually I just see the broken open shells.  Yay.  A first, no matter how big or small, it was still pretty fun.  I scooped him up with my paddle and Matt plucked him off.  I had to take a quick picture of him before we tossed him back into his lovely, shallow, warm-watered habitat.

On to that thing about cameras, river photography, etc.  For this trip, I did not want to accidentally loose my camera to the watery behemoth otherwise known as the Susquehanna.  It is my lifeline.  It is my business; it is my passion.  I would be very sad.  So, having factored this into the equation we decided not to take it.  Instead, I took my watertight box (highly recommend this!) and my IPhone.  I figured that if I happened to drop it, then I have one saving grace replacement from Apple, so it wouldn't be the end of the world.  So, about this dropping business, now that I have experienced the river, I feel as though I can rightfully comment on the subject.  Basically, if you are in a canoe, you would have to throw your belongings into the river for it to get wet, or else be trying to capsize your vessel for giggles.  Neither of which I plan on partaking in, so maybe the next time we go, I will take the camera along.

We continued riding along the river, sweeping left and right to inspect coves, islands, beautiful flower, anything that caught our fancy.  We floated for about an hour and a half and decided to moor ourselves up on this tiny little secluded island for lunch.  It was outdoor fabulous.  Matt took a funny video that I will spare you, but it suffices to say that we just had a fabulous time and even though we were in a group of 12 or so riders, we didn't see them at all after we all dispersed on the river.  This is a good thing.

After lunch we jumped back in, floated around, plus saw the largest white crane breeding islands (who knew?)- there were at least 50-60 birds just hanging out on these little rocky islands along the river.  We chatted it up with a few passing boaters- all very friendly by the way!   We paddled under the Harvey Taylor Bridge- WAY bigger than it feels/looks from the shore.  Right as we were ready to paddle under the bridge, we look up and a large plane (HIA is not that far away) is going directly over our head, as if it were in slow motion.  We stopped, back paddled a little, then just took it all in.  Not too make people can say they have sat in a canoe, on the Susquehanna and watched a big jet, in slow motion directly over head.  It was all very surreal and 100% Dressler Style.

After this experience, we were not far from City Island, so we floated closer to the Bath House shore and let the canoe float us past some seagulls.  Once of these gulls was a whopper.  He was definitely the king daddy.  We tried to paddle over closer to him, but he flew over to another little rocky spot after we got within about 6-8 feet of him.  Of course, as he few away, he kicked three other smaller gulls off their perch.  Oops.  Lesson learned.  Leave nature alone and just chill.

We floated back towards City Island, bobbing through some jet ski wake.  I determined after digesting the excursion that this was my least favorite part of the trip.  The end, the deepest water (I could no longer see the bottom- boo!), and loud jet skis interrupting the peacefulness of the river.  I also determined that if these three things were my least favorite, then I would take it.  At every end, there is a new beginning (a good thing).  For every fear, there is the will to over come (I will learn to not fear those less visible) and there is a good marriage between nature and mechanical- or we wouldn't be where we are today.

Our trip took us right at 3 hours, with our island explorations and lunch.  It was a very loverly way to spend our anniversary that is unique to us (who needs dinner at a restaurant when you can have dinner on an island?).  I would recommend it to anyone interested in doing something new, spicing up your upper body workout, or just out to have a great time with a bunch of friends.

Two Thumbs Up on this adventure!

Be Blessed.